Most UPA partners back Telangana: Rao

As many as 20 of 24 UPA partners have backed the demand for the formation of the separate state of Telangana, according to Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief and Labour Minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao.

Only two parties —— CPI(M) and RSP —— have informed the UPA ministerial group headed by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee that they are against the demand, said Rao. Two parties —— the CPI and the Hyderabad-based Majilis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) —— have taken a neutral stand. Rao felt that he expected support from most opposition parties as well.

He said the CPI(M)’s opposition to the Telangana formation is in tune with its resistance to the bifurcation of states. The RSP has gone along this view. The CPI, according to sources, may gradually change its stand, favouring Telangana later. Rao did not agree with the suggestion that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was dilly-dallying on the issue though he had left it to her to take a decision. He said it was a political and diplomatic decision. Therefore, he wished to give her enough time to draw her course of action.